Nul points! Eurovision nations that have given UK the best and WORST scores since song contest began

The nations that give the UK the highest and lowest scores at the Eurovision Song Concert have been revealed as Liverpool prepares to host the huge event in collaboration with Ukraine on Saturday.

After Sam Ryder’s hugely successful Spaceman performance at last year’s event in Italy, which saw him land second place, Eurovision fans are crossing their fingers Mae Muller’s I Wrote A Song will prove the winner in 2023.

As the final 26 acts prepare to hit the stage on Saturday night, new analysis by MailOnline has revealed which nations might have the UK’s back in vote terms, and which might send their precious points elsewhere. 

The UK is hosting the contest this year after Ukraine took the top spot in 2022, but was unable host the event themselves due to Russia’s invasion in February of last year.

The contest is a collaboration between the two countries, with award-winning Ukrainian singer, Julia Sanina hosting alongside Britain’s Graham Norton.

The first semi-final on May 9 saw Rita Ora, Rebecca Ferguson and Ukrainian singer Alyosha perform.

MailOnline worked out the average number of points that each country has given the UK per year

Mae Muller (pictured) will represent the UK on Saturday night with her rendition of I Wrote A Song

The second semi-final on May 11 featured performances from Mariya Yaremchuk, who was Ukraine’s pick at Eurovision in 2014, rapper OTOY and 14-year-old Ukrainian Junior Eurovision representative Zlata Dziunka. 

The number of countries involved in Eurovision has greatly fluctuated since its debut with just seven nations in 1956, compared to 40 in last year’s competition. This year, there will be 37.

Throughout this time, there are certain countries that have consistently awarded UK entries with points – even when most other nations did not. There are also those that have consistently cut the UK out of its share – even when the UK placed highly or even won. 

MailOnline has calculated the average points given to the UK per year, per country – and the results make for surprising reading.

The country which has given the UK the worst scores at Eurovision is Montenegro. The small nation may have competed in the contest 12 times, but they have given the UK a total of just two points – or 0.17 points per year. 

Not far behind is Belarus, which has awarded the UK six points over 16 contests, or 0.38 points per year.

But fortunately for the UK when it comes to scoring, Belarus was handed a three-year ban in 2021.

Montenegro is also not competing in this year’s Eurovision.

Next up is Serbia, with just 0.73 points per year, followed by both Andorra and Moldova with a round one point per year. 

Sam Ryder arrives on stage during last year’s Eurovision song contest

Bucks Fizz stole the show at the 1981 Eurovision song contest when they stormed into first place

British singer Lulu poses ahead of the 1969 Eurovision competition, where she would win with Boom Bang-a-Bang

Sandie Shaw finished first in Eurovision in 1967 with her smash hit Puppet On A String

British pop duo Jemini performed the song ‘Cry Baby’ at 2003’s contest in Riga – but despite their efforts, they ended up in 26th place with the dreaded nul points

Just five years after Jemini came Adam Abraham, who only did slightly better – finishing in 25th, with 14 points

Josh Dubovie also finished 25th in 2010, with just 10 points at the contest in Oslo, Norway

While Moldova is a part of the contest this year, Andorra, which last competed in 2009, had to confirm it would not be entering despite the country’s best efforts to return to the competition.

Croatia and Montenegro were the nations in the 2022 line-up which awarded the UK nul points, despite Sam Ryder coming second overall.

Serbia and Armenia gave the UK just one point each, meaning they are also among nations unlikely to score Mae Muller highly. 

Statistically the country which has been kindest to the UK is Morocco. Despite only ever taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest once in 1980, the nation gave the UK’s Prima Donna eight points – helping the band rise to third place overall. 

Britain’s turbulent Eurovision history means that all other nations have given far fewer points per year they have competed alongside the UK.

Excluding Morocco, the country which has given the UK the most points on average is about as far away from Europe as it is possible to get. Australia has given 5.14 points to the UK per year since its arrival in Eurovision in 2015.

Next up is the UK’s neighbour the Republic of Ireland. Ireland has appeared in 54 Eurovision contests, and has given the UK an average of 4.84 points each year during that time. Thank you Ireland!

The third friendliest country will not help the UK much on Saturday night. Although it has awarded 4.76 to British entries on average, it last competed in the competition in 1993. 

A friend Luxembourg may be, but not one that will be able to boost Mae Muller up this year’s leaderboard.

Completing the top five friendliest nations towards the UK at Eurovision are Malta, which has given an average of 4.6 points in its 35 appearances, and Israel, with an average of 4.16 over its 45 entries.

But these are not the only countries to have scored the UK highly.

When Spaceman was performed in 2022, Austria, Ukraine and Azerbaijan were among the nations which gave it the highest scores of 19 and 20 points.

All are competing again this year – but so are some of the nations which scored the UK the lowest.

This includes Croatia, Serbia and Armenia, as well as Slovenia, which awarded Sam with a paltry two points.

Mae Muller, 25, has fierce competition if she wants to make it to the top of the leaderboard this time around.

Current favourites to win are Sweden with Loreen’s Tattoo, with odds of 2/5, according to Ladbrokes.

Not far behind is Finland with odds of 5/2, followed by last year’s winner Ukraine with 8/1. By comparison, the UK is in joint 10th position in bookmakers’ predictions at 33/1.

But it could be far worse – Lithuania’s entry is currently the least likely to win, Ladbrokes shows, with staggering odds of 300/1. 

In this year’s semi-finals Ireland failed to make it through to the grand final. The countries that were eliminated were Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Iceland, San Marino, Greece, Romania, Denmark and Georgia.

Eurovision is unpredictable – and there is no way of knowing exactly where the UK will end up on the leaderboard by the end of Saturday night.

The whole of the UK will be hoping the Liverpool charm works its magic as much as Muller’s hit song, and will help but some of the recent ‘nul points’ scores firmly in the past.